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T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

Florida Today reports that writers from the TV series "Mad Men" are working on a potential TV series that would focus on the space program of the 1960s and the journalists who covered it. The working title of the program is "Cocoa Beach." If it comes to fruition, the series could debut as early as this fall.

Cocoa Beach Mayor Dave Netterstrom said he was told about the show by Space Coast Film Commissioner Bonnie King.

"Hopefully, it happens," Netterstrom said. "It would be super-cool. We're trying to positively develop our brand and our image. We want to let people know we're a cool place to visit and a cool place to live."

From what I understand, the writers are basing the series in part on veteran NBC journalist Jay Barbree's "Live from Cape Canaveral."

Mad Men is a great show, though I've often wondered why there is almost no mention of the space program. So my interest is definitely piqued and especially if it has writers of such caliber there is a lot of potential. Hopefully AMC will agree.

Knowing a little about how much it takes to produce something like this though, there's virtually no way to have it in production in time for a fall 2013 "launch". These things take a little more time to do right.

kr4mula

quote:Originally posted by mode1charlie:Mad Men is a great show, though I've often wondered why there is almost no mention of the space program.

There have been a few references. This season opened with a drunken soldier eying the obviously "square" Don Draper at a bar and inquiring, "You some kinda astronaut?" His ad agency also worked on landing a campaign for North American Aviation in one of the early seasons. That arc lasted a few episodes. I seem to recall mention of John Glenn's flight, too.

You'd think some NY ticker-tape parades for the astronauts or perhaps the Apollo 1 fire might've been thrown in. Since they're in 1968 now, perhaps Apollo 8 will be a capstone for the year, as it was in the "From the Earth to the Moon" episode on 1968.

But yes, all just very peripheral references. I sure hope Apollo 11 makes the series!

KSCartist

I noticed in Sunday's episode about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Peter had the May 19, 1967 LIFE magazine on his coffee table. This is the one with Wally Schirra on the cover.

Now since Peter landed the NAA account for Cooper-Sterling, maybe he likes to keep year old magazines on the coffee table.

I too hope Apollo 8 gets a mention.

ea757grrl

I noticed the Wally Schirra "Life" cover on Pete's coffee table a couple episodes back - by the show's timeline, it's just been sitting there a while in that stagnant little apartment. Every time they show Pete's apartment my eyes go straight to that magazine.

onesmallstep

This is great! The more historical space-themed dramas the better, instead of the same CSI-type or police procedurals every week. The 60s were certainly the Golden Age of spaceflight, and I can't wait to see them recreate the period like they did on From the Earth to the Moon. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they rent or recycle some props from that series or even Apollo 13, and possibly build new mockups (are you listening Cosmosphere?).

More important, I hope Barbree has some input as an advisor on the journalism side, and the many retired astronauts and engineers on the other, technical side. A good place to start would be Scott Carpenter and his daughter Kris, who people on this forum know has written and posted a lot on the early years of the space program. As for it being on AMC, I think History would be the best channel, but any network would be wise to snap up the broadcast rights quickly.

Blackarrow

I'm just wondering which astronaut wife will be played by Christina Hendricks?

onesmallstep

Well, Hendricks is a natural blonde, so since Mad Men has just one more season to go, maybe she can lose the red hair and guest star as Kris Stover's mom Rene Carpenter? Let's start a petition going here cSers